


Lumberjack and the Suit

by stagprince666



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Accountant Stiles, Alternate Universe - Human, Awkward Stiles, Chris Argent - Freeform, Derek is cute and awkward, F/F, F/M, Hale Family survived the fire, Lumberjack Derek, M/M, Mentioned Kate Argent, Multi, Stiles is guardian of his niece, Stiles is rich, Vernon Boyd - Freeform, allison argent - Freeform, mention of suicide, scott McCall - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-10-03
Packaged: 2018-02-15 20:27:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2242425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stagprince666/pseuds/stagprince666
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Always wanting more from his strange little home town of Silver Spring, Colorado, lumberjack Derek Hale is surprised (along with most of the town), when a rich accountant moves to town. Stiles, said rich accountant, moved to the quaint town of 800 so he can raise his niece after his sister's unexpected suicide. Having lost his mother already and his father drunk most of the time, Stiles just needed to get away from everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I got the idea for this fic from the band Lumberjack and the Suits. They're a super rad band and you should hit them up. They released their first EP not too long ago, so they're not well known. If you like bluegrass, you'd probably love them. And if I said that I didn't name the town after Fleetwood Mac, I'd be lying. The town is based off of a real town in Colorado; if you have a chance to go to Silverton, take it. Silverton, Colorado is an amazing little town that gets completely cut off from the world during winter, because the road leading to it (The Million Dollar Highway) is too expensive to plow (and it'd be scary has hell). Also, I don't have a Beta, so please forgive me if you see any mistakes. If anyone WOULD like to Beta for me, hit me up!

    He leaned up against the old ‘74 Chevy C10, wiping the sweat off his brow. Grabbing the water bottle in the bed of the truck, he squirted it’s contents into his mouth, spilling some of it on its journey. Sweat stained the pits, neck, and back of his white undershirt, with wind whipping at his open plaid shirt. Derek had been working hard for four hours, chopping wood and whatnot; hell, he deserved a break. The scene of the mountains still took his breath away when he took the time to really pay attention. Setting the trees and mountains ablaze, the light reflecting off the near by water falls and made them look like flowing silver. Along the rim of the valley, laid the blue, red, and purple crown of mountains. It would take hours to fully take in the  beauty of the land, but someone like him doesn’t have the time to do that.

  The other sweat stained men came up behind him, pulling him away from the landscape. Gabe, an average sized man, with a jawline sharp as steel, and dark hair not unlike Derek’s, clapped his gloved hand on Derek’s back, making him give a forceful sigh. They piled around him, ten in all. The smell of antiperspirant and sweat started to mask the smell of mountain air and fresh cut wood. Derek offered his brother some water, Gabe gladly took it.

   “I didn’t hear you leave this morning, what time did you get up?” Gabe ask, out of breath. Derek and Gabe share an apartment downtown. They were forced too, after the house fire. Their mother asked Derek if Gabe could stay with him, while she, his dad, and two sisters moved into a three bedroom condo on the outskirts of town.

  “I woke up at 3:30 and couldn’t fall back asleep,” Derek huffed, still trying to calm his breathing. He’s been doing that lately, waking up at unreasonable hours in the morning. He suspected it’s because of nightmares, but he can’t remember any of them.

   “Der, that’s like, three times this week. Are you not sleeping good?” Gabe tried to sound casual, but Derek could hear worry in his voice.

    “No, I’m okay.” He lied.

    “Hey, did you guys hear that Whittemore got a new accountant? Guess whose paychecks are going down.” Greenberg gestured to the whole group. “I heard he’s from Denver, probably some big-wig. Why he would move here is beyond me? Silver Spring sucks, there’s nothing to do here.” Greenberg wasn’t wrong, Silver Spring has a population of 800 year round, so there isn’t like, a mall or anything. They’ve got a movie theatre… that’s only open eight months of the year. Many people stay in Silver Spring during the summer, but leave in winter. That’s mostly because Silver Spring is deep in the Colorado Rockies, and they get snowed in every year.

    “Who is it? I hope it’s a hot broad!” Mickey said a little too enthusiastically, “We could use some more hot chicks around here.” A boom of laughter erupted from the group, Derek gave a forced laugh.

     “Nah, bro, I heard it was a dude.” Johnny said.

    “Great, just what we need, another guy to compete with. You know all the girls in town are going to go after him, he’s probably got a lot of money,” Another guy said ruefully.

    “Well, we don’t know that, this could be his first job, but why he’d choose Silver Spring, I don’t know. Maybe he has family here?” Greenberg muttered. “I wonder if he’ll make more than us.”

      Before anyone could answer, Jackson, Mr. Whittemore’s son, came walking up to the group. “Uh, we don’t pay you guys to stand around, get back to work!” He said in a sly, matter-of-fact tone. They all grumbled, some of them said rather crass things under their breath, but they all got back to work.

 

***

 

      It was about one o'clock when Derek decided to leave. It was Friday and he had finished his hours for the week, why would he stay here any longer than he had too? He definitely didn’t need the overtime, his family was very well off. In fact, the Hales were the second richest family in town, after  the Whittemores of course. Derek walked to the worker’s break trailer to collect his things. He pushed the door into the trailer open and climbed in.  He glanced around the room, it was small with fluorescent lighting and cheap white paint, cubbies for the workers lined the walls with their owners names above them. He spotted Gabe’s cubby, but no lunch pail in it. Derek grumbled, he grabbed his own lunch, and plopped it into his brother’s cubby. “He’d starve without me,” Derek said out loud.

    The door to the trailer popped open, and in walked a man. Since Derek has never seen this guy before, he must be the new accountant. The man looked around. “Oh, this isn’t the office,” he said to himself. Derek’s breath was taken away, the man before him was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen. His brown hair was stuck up in the front, his eyes were a light amber and he had cute, little moles splattered all over his face. He had the most perfect lips that Derek would do anything to kiss. The man’s tongue darted out of his mouth the wet them. His eyes focused on Derek, “Hey, man, could you tell me how to get there?”

    Oh god, is he talking to me? Derek asked himself. He started to feel a bit embarrassed. Here there was this guy in a perfectly tailored suit, fancy tie, nice dress shoes; and Derek was standing there in dirty, sweat stained clothes with mud crusted up to his knees. He could feel his face heat up, he must have been blushing. “Uh, it’s kind of hard to explain how to get there…” Derek said, rubbing the back of his neck.

    “Can you show me? I really need to make a phone call, and my cell doesn’t have service out here.” The man was thrumming his fingers on his thighs, clearly impatient.

     “Uh, yeah…” Derek had time, he wasn’t doing anything. Actually, he was just going to go home and read, five less minute of reading shouldn’t hurt. Derek grabbed his dirty work gloves off of the table, and walked toward the door. Silently praying he didn’t smell, Derek passed the man on his way out of the trailer.

   “Thanks man, you’re really saving me. My name is Stiles, by the way.” Stiles pushed his hand out to shake Derek’s. Derek obliged and took Stiles’ hand; his hand was so soft and smooth, it was like he had never worked with his hands before. Derek quickly pulled his away, he didn’t want to get Stiles’ all dirty and gross, Stiles didn’t seem to notice. “Hey, do you know of any good places to eat? I haven’t had lunch yet.” At the mention of food, Derek realized that he was famished, he hadn’t eaten since four this morning. His stomach started to grumble, and his blush went from pink to red.

   “Yeah, Venison’s is a good place downtown. I actually haven’t had lunch either,” Derek patted his tummy, leading them to the main office.

   “Oh really? Wanna go get some grub with me? I’d like to start to get to know my co-workers. Well, we won’t really be working together. I’m the new accountant, so I’ll be working inside.” Stiles said, smoothing over his suit jacket. (So he is the new accountant, he most definitely looks the part.)

     Derek started to blush again, he internally started to kick himself for the involuntary action. Maybe Stiles wouldn’t notice, and if he did, it might look like the cold made him blush. Derek was being asked to lunch by the new hot, maybe rich accountant. He started to scream in his head. “Yeah, sure. I mean, we’re both getting food, so why not get food together, right?” He was stammering, he kicked himself internally again. They finally reached the main office.

   “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Hey, thanks for showing me how to get here. I’ll make that call, then we can go. I’ll just follow you to the restaurant.” Stiles jumped up the three steps leading into the office, and walked in.

     Minutes of nervous waiting passed before Stiles came out of the office, he looked more calm this time. “Hey, you ready to go? My car is just over there,” Stiles motioned to their far left, where the other vehicles were at rest. They started to walk in that direction, they slip up when they got to the lot. Derek jumped up into his Chevy, throwing his gloves into the seat next to him. Stiles, on the other hand, smoothly slid into the seat of a shiney Corvette. Derek couldn’t figure out the model, it must be super expensive. Well, Stiles is rich, Derek thought.

     The engine of the C10 roared to life, Derek still gets chills when he starts his truck. Thrusting it into gear, Derek started to roll out of his parking spot and out on to the dirty road leading to town. Stiles’ car was in his rearview mirror, it would disappear when they rounded a corner, but would pop back into view when they straightened out. The drive to town took ten minutes to complete, ten minutes of silence and beautiful mountains. This was one of the only times Derek got silence. With Gabe intruding on most of his personal space, his loud sisters fighting at his parent’s house, and the other residence of the town, Derek rarely got Derek Quite Time.

    The only time Derek could be alone, was when he went up to his family’s cottage deep in the forest. The other three Hale kids think it’s scary (mostly because it’s miles from the town, in the middle of nowhere), but Derek loved it. Being so far from people, in his own little island of isolation, made Derek’s heart sing with joy.

     Maybe he should change his clothes before he goes to lunch? He was pretty sure he smelled, and ‘that would be rude in polite company,’ his mother would tell him. Just then, he noticed that he had an extra shirt in the the truck. Awesome, he’d put that on, and some more deodorant! But that left the problem with his muddy jeans. Well, the whole town knows what he does, he works at the Whittemore Lumber Mill, like most of the town. They wouldn’t mind muddy jeans.

     The outskirts of the town started to come into view: the strange colored houses that gave Silver Spring it’s charm. No two houses were the same color, some only varying with different shades, but some were completely different. There were bright pink, aqua, plum, pumpkin orange, and cobalt blue houses just in sight. The colors only got stranger closer to the town’s center. Derek’s friend, Isaac’s house was even silver. Isaac’s house was one of the more popular houses in town, tourists would stand in awe and snap pictures of the houses, the not so humble abodes are one of the main attractions to the town.

   One would think that Main Street would be the most strange, but it’s actually really normal. Little mom and pop stores line the road, with old wooden decks out in front of them. It was fall, so there were a few tourists walking up and down the road. It’s easy to spot the tourists, mostly because Derek had grew up with everyone who lived in town. Normally the tourists wore short kakias with fanny packs and sunvisors, so it’s not hard to miss them. Tourism is one of the greatest resources of the town, along with the lumber mill. Also many of the residents were well off anyways.

  Derek checked to see if Stiles was still following him, the grey Corvette was tailgating the truck. Stiles must be an impatient person, that’ll change after he’s been here for a while. The rest of the world seems to be rushing by, while Silver Spring moved at a leisurely pace. When Derek was little, the outside world was a mysterious place, with fast cars, fast people, and fast lives. His mom, would say that they all need to take a deep breathe and calm down.   

  They were coming up to Venison’s, a little pub owned by one of the town’s founding families: the Argents. Well, only Chris and his daughter Allison; the rest of the family was either dead, in jail, or left a while ago. Actually, there was only one family member in jail: Kate. The poor excuse for a humble Silver Springer was the one who burned down the Hale house. He still blamed himself, though. It was he who broke up with her and made her fly off the deepend. The dead members of the family were also a short list: Allison’s grandfather died of cancer back in ‘09 and her mother had died from a wolf attack last year. They still haven’t found the pack that killed her.

    Derek pulled into a parking spot, Stiles did the same on the other side of the street. He leaned over and grabbed his extra shirt and deodorant. Flipping off his plaid over shirt, he put the Old Spice on. He pulled the sweat stained white shirt off, his well defined, still glistening with sweat abs and pecs were in full view. He unfolded the grey v-neck, pulling the clean shirt over his head, he heard a loud thump on the car next to him, he pulled the shirt all the way down to see that Stiles was on the ground next to the truck. The truck’s door popped open and Stiles stumbled back to his feet, “Uh… um… I saw a bug! And it scared me! And I tripping and hit the car…. I totally wasn’t looking at you change…” A bright red blush was splattered all over Stiles’ face, he started to pat the dust off of his suit.

     “Uh…” Derek didn’t know what to say. “Okay..” He settled with. Things got a little awkward, so Derek opted to walk toward the front door of Venison’s, Stiles in tow. The door opening with a ding and Allison’s sweet voice could be heard from the other side of the room. She must be taking someone’s order, but she couldn’t be seen. He’s been here many times, so he knows the rules of the place; Derek’s feet, clad in thick black work boots, landed in loud thuds while he walked to a booth. “We’re suppose to seat ourselves, Allison will be over in a minute to get our orders.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't updated, schools been hectic and I kind of forgot about it. Also, sorry to all those who read my previously unedited chapter.

   “But don’t we need menus?” Stiles asked when he seated himself across the booth from Derek. Stiles’ eyes caught sight of a small sign on the table. “Anything you want, we’ll make” was written in bright orange letters. There were antlers framing the edges of the sign, a buck and a doe were kissing at the bottom of the sign. “Aw! Look at them, they’re so cute!” Stiles exclaimed. “Wait, really? Anything we order they’ll make?” It took a minute for Stiles to pry his eyes away from the deer couple.

    “Yep. Boyd can cook anything.”

    Stiles twisted his head in confusion, “Boyd?”

    “Oh, the cook. I know him. When you’ve lived here for a while, you know everyone.” Derek said, trying not to make eye contact with Stiles. “Boyd was a few years behind me in high school, he was in my sister Cora’s class.”

    “Well, I guess you would know everyone, living in a town of 800.” Stiles said, he rubbed the back of his head. “I kind of like that, being in a place where everyone knows everyone. But it might be a while til they stop seeing me as an outsider.”

    “When did you move to town? If you don't mind me asking,” Derek tried to be polite.

    “Uh, the moving truck finished unpacking yesterday,” Stiles said. “I moved into my mom’s old house, it already had a bunch of stuff so there wasn’t much to unpack.”

     “Your mom’s old house? She used to live here?” Derek’s interest was piqued. “What’s her last name?”

    “Stilinski. But her maiden name was-” Stiles couldn’t finish his sentence, his attentions was caught by Allison, who was walking up to their table.

       She looked to Derek then to Stiles, “Hey Derek, who’s your friend?” She asked.

    “Allison Argent, this is Stiles… Stilinski,” Derek thought about moments ago when Stiles said his mother’s last name is Stilinski, he took a leap of faith. Stiles didn’t protest at the introduction, so Derek assumed he was right. Stiles gave a small wave to Allison, she smiled and waved back.

    “You must be the new guy in town, I’ve heard about you. You’re living at the old Zych house,“ Allison motioned to the street, “Yeah, I saw a moving truck there yesterday. God, no ones lived there in years. Your mom moved to somewhere near Denver, right?” Stiles gave a small nod. “How’s she doing? My dad knew her, I’m sure he’d like to know.”

     The was a pause, Stiles’ eyes were cast downward, avoiding eye contact. He didn’t look up, “Actually, she passed away a few years back.” Allison gave a small gasp, Derek could feel the air get heavier.

    “Uh, I’m-” Allison was stammering, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” She put her hand on his shoulder. Nothing seems more in character for Allison, she’s always wanting to protect people, to sympathize with them. After losing her mother, Derek assumed she knew how it felt. It wasn’t easy for her, losing her mother. At first, Allison was angry at the world for taking her, she’d scream and curse, thrash at anyone who tried to hold her. In time, the sadness of it set in, Allison wouldn’t leave her room, she was never at work, it was almost like the town had lost her too. It took a lot of coaxing from her father and her boyfriend Scott to get her back to work. Even then it was weeks before she was back to her old self. She still didn’t seem whole to Derek, though. Sometimes he’d steal glances at her, when she thought no one was looking, her eyes would seem hollow and her face would be turned down in a frown.

     “Its okay, there was no way of you knowing. Ah, what about that lunch,” Stiles clasped his stomach, trying to get out of the heavy moment.

     “Um, yeah,” Allison shook her head. “What can I get you guys.” She raised her pad of paper and pulled the pen out from behind her ear. “Derek, do you want your usual?” Derek nodded, and she scribbled on the paper. She turned to Stiles next.

     “I’ll have…” He paused to think for a second, “I guess a hamburger.” Stiles shrugged his shoulders and folded his hand on the table.

    “Alrighty, and for drinks?” She looked up with a smile, her messy bun plopped on her head.

   “I’ll have a Victory Hop Devil in a glass, please.” Derek said without thinking. Allison nodded.

      “Is that like a beer or something?” Stiles said while giving a ‘what even’ face.

    “Yeah, its a beer. We’ve got a lot of types of beer, too. Not just food.” Allison said. She pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

      “Do you have any wine?” Stiles asked.

     “Uh, I think so. Maybe a bottle of red?” Allison was a little caught off guard. The people of Silver Spring aren’t very big fans of wine. Derek’s never even had wine before. Hell, he was 30 years old, and he’s never had wine before, is that sad? Derek thought not, he always believed that wine was for the rich and snobby, but now he felt like a fool for having never tried it. But Stiles had no way of knowing, so Derek let it go.

     “That’ll be perfect,” Stiles said with a smile. Allison only nodded and left for the kitchen. “So other than chop wood, what do you do for fun around here? I mean, I’ve check out your movie theater, and its kind of only open eight months of the year. That’s sad.” Stiles was motioning with his hands while he talked.

       Derek thought a moment, “Well, I don’t know what other people do, but I mostly just read. I swear I’ve read every book in the library at least twice, so I’ve just started to buy books online, the internet is amazing.” Oh god! Did he really just say the internet is amazing? Derek must sound like a total hick to Stiles. The internet is amazing, Derek repeated in his head, tensing up.

   “Uh,” Stiles gave a sly smile, “I guess so…. What kind of books do you like to read?” Stiles shook his head slightly, chuckling a bit. Derek could feel himself blushing.

   “Horror, poetry, science fiction, pretty much anything,” Derek didn’t look up, he was afraid Stiles would see his blush.

   “Cool, man. I’m not much of a reader myself. The last actual chapter book I read was The Hobbit and that was to my niece,” Stiles said, looking down and fiddling with his hands.

   Derek has to play it cool now. Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit was his favorite books ever. He’s read all four books at least five times, and he’s seen the movies six. In fact, the last movie he saw was The Desolation of Smaug; he saw it with Cora and Kira the last time they were in Longmont. Not wanting them to know that he was such a geek, he played down his desire to see the movie; he lucked out when Kira wanted to see it.

   “Oh, cool. I’ve read the Hobbit a couple times,” Derek reigned his enthusiasm, he tried to make it sound like he wasn’t a total freak. From what he’s heard of the outside world, its not peculiar to enjoy such entertainment; however, it was very odd in Silver Spring to. Indeed, it was odd for men to spend almost all their time inside reading; something that Derek did. Derek was always seen as an oddball, but his family was a pillar of the community. When one thought of Silver Spring, one would normally also think of the Hales. With that reputation, no one treated Derek badly or any differently for his ‘undesirable’ pastime.

   “Yeah, I thought is was pretty lame,” Stiles said. Derek almost had a heart attack. “But then we got to the part when Bilbo faced the dragon for the first time. That Smug-”

   “Smaug,” Derek corrected.

  “Right, sorry, Smaug. He had an awesome way with words, I almost felt bad when he was killed. But, he was kind of arrogant, so I didn’t exactly cry over his loss,” Stiles continued. Stiles was right, Smaug was a bit of an ass.

   Allison returned with their food: Stiles’ plate in one hand, and Derek’s in the other. She set his burger down in front of him, and set down Derek’s food in front of him too. Stiles’ eyes widened when he saw Derek’s plate. Sitting in the middle of Derek’s plate had to be the one biggest steaks he’d ever eaten. Its no secret that Derek can eat a lot. Being a man of his size and activity level, he had to. On average, Derek ate more than Gabe and his father, but he also has about fifteen more pounds of muscle than them. He’s always been well built, and he’s always eaten a lot. Derek’s mouth began to water when he looked at his steak; the mash potatoes and green beans off to the side caught his attention too.

   “Uhh, are you going to eat all that?”

   “Yeah,” Derek said deadpanned.

   “You can't be serious, you’ll explode!” Stiles motioned upward with his hands.

  Starring Stiles directly in the eye, Derek cut a triangle out of his steak and slowly raised it to his lips. He started to chew slowly, still keeping eye contact with Stiles. Stiles in turn, huffed and took a bite of his burger, which he then moaned with pleasure. Derek giggled a little, which made him feel like a little girl.

   “Oh my god, this is the best burger I’ve ever had,” Stiles said, it was almost a shout.

 “Finally! Someone appreciates my food!” Boyd called from behind the near by counter. Derek hasn’t heard Boyd talk that much unprovoked, and he was a bit startled by this. Vernon Boyd has always been the ‘strong silent type’, always had a strong, steely gaze. But now, he seemed rather giddy, maybe no one complemented Boyd on his culinary skills; but that can’t be right, because Boyd was the best damn cook in town, how can no one applaud his art? His food was exactly that: art. Thinking bad, Derek had only thanked Allison for the food, never Boyd, he felt a bit guilty then.

  “Oh, get over yourself! You know we all love your food, stop making a big deal out of it!” Uh-oh, it sounded like Erica and Boyd were having a dispute. Erica was also in Cora’s class, just like Boyd and Allison and Scott and Kira and Isaac. In fact, at one point, the seven of them were inseparable; but that might be because there were only nine people in their class. Actually, their class was the smallest in years: Cora, Kira, Scott, Allison, Danny, Jackson, Erica, Boyd, and Isaac made up the whole class. Danny was apparently the only one who could stand Jackson, because he was Jackson’s only friend.

     “Well, you could say you like my food more!”

     “I like your food!” Eric shouted back. Derek chuckled a little more. The two of them moved to the kitchen, so Derek couldn’t hear them anymore. Derek looked up from his half eaten steak, to see Stiles staring at him.

   “What?” Derek inquired. Stiles chuckled, and looked down.

  “Nothing, its just… it’s been a while since I ate with someone who isn’t Lydia or Luna.” Stiles said softly, a content grin was spread on his face. Derek’s stomach sank, who is Luna and Lydia? Maybe a wife and child? No, Stiles didn’t have a wedding ring. But, one didn’t need to be married to have a child, maybe they were one of those ‘progressive’ families who don’t need a pieces of paper to prove they were a family. “Luna is my niece,” Stiles said looking up from his food, “And Lydia is my best friend. She moved here with me, she didn’t want me to be alone, I guess.” He suddenly looked rather shocked, “Uh, I didn’t mean to say that… The things you tell a stranger…”

   “No- no, it’s fine.” Derek perked up, so Lydia is just a friend, and Luna is his niece. “Why did you guys move here?”

  Stiles casted his eyes down, a moment passed. “Um, it’s kind of complicated…” Stiles’ eyes were starting to get a bit watery, he let out a sharp sigh. Derek felt a pang, he pried too much. Maybe Stiles moved because something bad happened? He shouldn’t have asked. Another moment passed, no one spoke, until Stiles broke the silence at their table: “I moved back into my mom’s house because I had to get away… from it all. It was all just too much…” A tear fell from Stiles’ left eye and it landed on his plate, he was still looking down.

   Derek gasped, “You- you don’t have to tell me,” he shook his head a little. His throat was tightening a bit.

   “Well, why not? I’m already crying in public.” Stiles looked up, his ambur irises were framed with red. “I moved here from Denver, because I couldn’t be there anymore.” Stiles paused again, trying to hold back more tears. “My- my sis- sister-” He couldn’t seem to get the words out, he took a deep breath. Derek could only watch in horror: a man he just met, whom he was suppose to have a nice, tear free lunch with, is crying before him. What could Derek do? He remembered Allison, how she always had the ability to make people feel better, but how did she do it? He remembered Allison’s hand on Stiles’ shoulder. Derek reached out tentatively and put his thick knuckled hand on Stiles’ more slender hand. Stiles let out a sharp sigh at the skin contact, he looked down as more tears rolled down his now flushed cheeks. “About two months ago,” Stiles started out, “My sister Trudka- Trudy, took a fist full of sleeping pills…” He gave another sharp sign, “And she never woke up.”

   All the blood in Derek’s face fled, leaving him pale faced in shock. Squeezing Stiles’ hand, Derek lifted his free hand to wipe a tear off of Stiles’ cheek. “I’m so sorry,” Derek said at length, “I shouldn’t have asked.” He felt really guilty.

  “Actually, this is the first time I’ve cried about it…” Stiles took his hand back from Derek, and wiped his face of his streaked tears. “I had to stay strong, for- for everyone. My dad and Luna… I’m all they’ve got. Well, my dad’s got whisky too… Thats why I moved, I didn’t want Luna around him. I bet he’s too drunk to even remember who me and Luna are.” Stiles seemed to be done crying. “Lydia moved here with me, too. She said she needed a change of scenery, but I know that she was worried about me; she’s a good friend.” He was smiling at the thought of Lydia; this Lydia must be a very, very good friend, indeed.

   Stiles regained his composure, it didn’t even look like he had been crying. Stiles and Derek were the only patrons at the moment, Allison was probably in the back doing a crossword or something, and Erica and Boyd were in the kitchen, so it was only Derek who witnessed Stiles crying. They finished their meals in silence.

    Allison paddled up, her hair was down in messy curls this time. “Hey guys, how was the food?’ She asked, taking both of the plates.

     “As good as ever, Allison. Thank you.” Derek said smiling, she grinned in return.

   “It was spectacular, give the chief my regards.” Allison nodded at Stiles’ words. After placing a slip of paper on the table, Allison walked off with their dirty plates. Derek reached for the bill, but Stiles swiped it before he could pick it up. “Let me pay, it’s my treat.”

    “But, I made you cry,” Derek defended, trying to get the bill from Stiles’ grasp; but with no such luck, Stiles raised his hand above his head, much like a child would.

     “Well, I cried in public, and I’m hoping this will let me regain my honor!” Stiles was basically a sixteen-year-old boy. Hopping up, Stiles whipped his wallet out of his back pocket and quickly walked up to the cash register and a waiting Allison. Derek heard a ding, and Stiles returned. “Thanks for showing me this place,” Stiles said, while Derek stood. They walked to the door together, Derek opened it, Stiles exited with Derek following him.

      “I had fun-ish,” Derek rubbed the back of his neck, “We should do it again.” He could feel himself blushing again.

      “Yeah, um, maybe dinner next time?” Stiles ask, he started to blush too. Derek’s eyes widened, and a big smile grew on his face.

        “Absolutely,” Derek said. Stiles smiled back. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't uploaded, I keep forgetting about this fic.

     It was one week before Derek actually talked to Stiles again. One week full of observing him from a distance, watching him walk from trailer to trailer in a perfectly tailored suits and dress shoes. They smiled at each other, if they ever caught each other’s eyes for too long. One week of flirting from a far, Derek noticed.

     After one week of waiting, Derek got tired of it; he decided he’d march right up to Stiles Stilinski and ask him to dinner. So that’s exactly what he did… kind of. He did march up to Stiles, but when it came to asking him out, things didn’t go exactly as planned.

     Derek saw him friday morning at the mill. There was a woman with him, a very, very pretty woman. She had long red hair, flawless porcelain skin, and bright witty eyes. Derek had never seen her before, and she was talking to Stiles, this must be the best friend, this must be Lydia. The woman’s eyes caught Derek before Stiles’ did; she puckered her lips, looking him up in down, she was judging him, Derek thought. “So, you’re the infamous Derek, aren’t you?” She asked before he could even come to a stop. Derek could feel himself blush under her instant scrutiny.

    Stiles turned to see Derek, his hand was under his chin, as if thinking. “Hey, Derek,” he said. “This is my friend Lydia,” Stiles motioned to the redhead. She raised her perfectly plucked eyebrows as some obscure greeting.

    “Hi-”

    “Alright, that’s enough talking for you,” Lydia interrupted, “Stiles wants to go to dinner with you but he’s too shy to ask you and he was too mortified with that happened last friday to even walk up to you. So congrats, you had to do it. Sometimes Stiles can act like a schoolgirl, it’s something we’re working on. Have you seen his butt? It’s too cute for him to be this shy. So, you’re going to pick him up with that death contraption you call a vehicle at 8:00 tonight, you’re going to take him to the nicest restaurant in town - which shouldn’t be hard to find, there are only like, three - and maybe, if you’re a real good boy, you can take him back to your most likely very humble abode, and have sex with him.” She was demanding, not asking; it seems Derek didn’t have a choice.

   “Lydia!” Stiles shouted, his ears and face were aflame with a deep blush. “You can’t just say those things! This is so like you! Ugh, you’re the worst!” He turned toward Derek, even more embarrassed, “You don’t have to take me to dinner, if you dont want too, and you definitely don't have to have sex with me…. unless you want to…” Stiles realized what he added at the end, because it seemed like he stopped breathing altogether, his blush deepened even more.

   Derek just stood there, like a deer in the head lights. Lydia still had a smirk on her face, and was measuring Derek’s reaction, clearly getting pleasure from this whole situation. “Uhh, o- okay-” Derek tried to get out.

   “Great, my work here is done. Now, take me home, Stiles, this whole ordeal has worn me out, and I’m afraid all this fresh air is going to give me a headache.” She looked around in malcontent, as if she was offended by her surroundings. The glorious and fierce woman turned heel, and started to stomp her toledo clad feet toward Stiles’ car, not even saying goodbye.

    “Sorry, about her, she takes some getting used to,” Stiles started in Lydia’s direction, “See you tonight,” Stiles called as he walked off.

    Derek was left standing there, wind whipping by him, flapping his plaid overshirt. Still not understand what just happened, he sighed.

 

***

 

    “Why do you look so nice?” Gabe said, standing in the doorway to Derek’s room. “And,” Gabe inhaled, “Are you wearing cologne? You never wear cologne. And you’re wearing that shirt mom got you for that date with that one girl in high school.” Gabe’s eyes widened and he gasped a bit. “You’re going on a date! With who! Tell me! You haven’t gone on a date in ages! Wait, its the new accountant isn’t it? you were talking to him earlier!”

    Derek closed his book, looked at the clock, then to his brother. “Yes,” is all he said, he has been getting rather irritated with Gabe lately. It was 7:30, he should go. Standing up from the leather chair in the corner of his deep green walled room, he grabbed his leather coat, and pushed past his slightly shorter brother. “Wait,” Gabe followed Derek into the living room, “Derek, why didn’t you tell me? You never tell me anything,” Gabe pouted. He was right though, Derek rarely shares personal things; he thought it was bad enough that he had to share his home with Gabe, but apparently Gabe wants to know every thought Derek had. Derek never liked sharing, this might make him sound like a three-year-old, but he didn’t care. It was like he was in a perpetual state of grumpy, unless he was eating of course. Gabe, on the other hand, always wanted to be with him, to fill Derek’s beloved silence with idle chatter; that was just one of the many things Derek found annoying about Gabe.

    “Maybe because I let you stay here, because mom asked me to, and all you do is invade my space. Maybe I want somethings to myself! Why do you have to know everything? hmh? Why do you always have to be here? Talking? Being loud? Asking stupid questions? Why don’t you just leave me alone?” Derek yelled. He had had enough with Gabe. Derek was a very level-headed person, never did anything without calculating the outcomes first; this time, he miscalculated. Gabe’s face fell into a frown, he looked like someone just kicked a puppy. After a moment of sorrow on his face, Gabe’s fists tightened and his jaw clenched, “Fine, I won’t bother you anymore,” he grabbed his jacket, walked down the little hallway to the front door, and slammed it behind him.

    “Great,” Derek sighed. Gabe has always been one to hold a grudge, even if someone got annoyed and yelled at him. He’s probably off crying in his car, Derek thought. He was still a bit angry, so Derek thought a few more bad things about Gabe before looking at the time and rushed out the door.

 

***

 

   Because he grew up in Silver Spring, Derek knew exactly where the Zych House was. His truck rolled up the driveway to the light grey house. Turning the key back, he cut the engine, and got out of his truck. The fall air filled his nose with the scent of freshly fallen leaves; a gust of wind blew a blizzard of red, yellow, and orange leaves around Derek, he felt like a scorned Disney Princess running from her troubles. A Disney PRINCE Derek corrected himself. Now all he needed was a bluebird to help him get dressed in the morning.

   He strode up the rest of the dirt driveway while getting hit in the face with fallen leaves; a leaf touched his tongue and he spat a little. Before he could knock on the door, it was flung open to show a rather irritated Lydia.

   “You’re late,” she sternly told him.

   Derek checked his watch, she was right, “By like, two minutes,” he told her.

   “Late nonetheless. Now, come in, Stiles is almost ready.” She ushered Derek in with a gesture of her arms. He obliged under fear of death.

    The foyer was a light mint green, white crown molding and baseboards framed the walls. A crystal chandelier hung from the centre of the room. Derek’s boots left mud on the shiny marble tile floor of the room, he swallowed wide-eyes and looked up at Lydia. She didn’t seem to notice, she left the room before he could ask her if he should take his boots off; assuming he should, he bent down and started to undo the laces.

    “Why are you in my house?” Derek heard a little voice say. He looked up, wide-eyed again. A slim little girl stood at the bottom step of the stairs that layed to the left of the foyer. “Mister?” She questioned again. Her big brown eyes caught Derek’s attention, they were almost the same hue as Stiles’. She must be Luna, Derek thought. Her dark black hair wasn’t like Stiles’ hair, though, that must be from her mom or dad.

    “Uh, I’m- I,” Derek started to stammer. He wasn’t good with kids, never has been. They just seem to… hate him.  He didn’t know why: he was always nice to them, never said anything rude, always smiled. Nothing would work, they just ended up hating him. Even his own little cousins didn’t like him, they always liked Gabe, Cora, and Laura though. Maybe it was because they were “fun” and not awkward around kids. But this was Stiles’ niece, he should make a good impression because Derek couldn’t think about anything but Stiles. “I’m Derek,” he mustered up the biggest, friendliest smile he could manage. “I’m going to dinner with your uncle,” he was talking with a slight baby voice.

  Lydia marched back into the room, she always seemed to be marching. “Luna, you should be in bed, I just tucked you in. Oh, I see you’ve met Derek,” Lydia turned her attention from Luna to Derek.

  Luna looked Derek up and down, her demeanor seemed to be more mature than her actual age. Just by the way Derek saw the little girl stand, her posture, quick eyes, he guessed she was probably ten, but from what Stiles told him, she was actually seven. “I like him,” Luna stated, she turned, and walked back upstairs, past a series of framed pictures on the wall, she turned left at the top.

  “Luna,” Derek heard a voice from upstairs say, “Get to bed,” it was Stiles talking. Sure enough, Stiles passed the top of the stairs, and walked the way Luna had. Derek caught glimpse of a small smirk on Stiles’ face when he looked down the stairs.

   “Hmh, I thought she was going to tear your arms off or gouge your eyes out,” Lydia sighed as if disappointed. “Oh well,” she turned around and walked off into what Derek assumed was the kitchen.

   Derek was left standing there, waiting in the foyer with half tied up boots. What was he getting into? He untied the rest of his rather muddy boots, and stepped out of them. Carefully paddleing into the room to the right of foyer, he looked into what he guessed  was the family room: it was painted light brown with the same white crown molding as the foyer, two big dark brown couches were set in an L position. White linen curtains were drawn, drowning out just a tad of light. A large painting of a little red bridge hung over the larger of the two couches. Three kids stood in the middle of the bridge, one with brown hair, one with red hair, and one with black hair. All of the shades seemed familiar. He stepped closer to the painting.

   “It’s us,” a voice from behind Derek said. He turned to see the entrance of the room, Stiles was standing there in a very fine suit and tie. “Lydia, Tudy, and I when we were kids. Lydia painted it about three years ago.” Derek looked in all the corners of the painting; sure enough, the right corner held two initials: LM. “I didn’t want to bring it, reminded me too much of her,” Stiles gave a sad scoff, “But Lydia wouldn’t let me leave it. ‘It’s a part of us, all of us’ she said. I guess she’s right.” Turning back to Stiles, Derek gave a half smile.

   “It’s really good,” Derek said.

   “Oh god, don’t let Lydia hear you say that, she’ll go on for hours about just that painting alone,” Stiles smiled looking down at his feet.

   Derek looked back at the painting again. A great torrent of water rushed under the bridge, the three children - Stiles, Trudy, and Lydia - were all looking over the edge, into the dark water below. “She should know… How good it is. Has she got more paintings? May I see?”

   “Oh, she knows she’s good, she doesn’t have to be told. No, you can’t see them,” Stiles said. Derek’s shoulders fell a little, he felt a bit disappointed. Stiles seemed to notice, “No, because she doesn’t have any of them,” Stiles said quickly, “She sold them all. That’s the only one she kept. That, and a self portrait that’s hanging above her bed. ‘Someone this beautiful doesn’t need to be reminded how good she looks, but it’s nice to see it first hand,’ she always says,” he said rolling his eyes.

   “I heard that,” they heard Lydia calling from the kitchen. Stiles chuckled.

   “Well, I guess we should go, shouldn’t we? How expensive is this place so I know how far I have to go when we get bake to your place. You know, like sex wise,” Stiles said sardonically.

   Derek’s eyes widened, not expecting any of that, “Uh, um, well,” Derek couldn’t even string together a sentence that made sense.

   “Oh my god, he’s joking obviously,” Lydia again called from the kitchen, she has probably been listening to everything they’ve been saying. “Ugh, you’re so dumb, Derek,” She was talking to him as if they’ve known each other for years, like friends tease each other.

  “Uh, right, I knew that. Well, should we go?” Derek said, rather embarrassed.

   “Yeah,” was all that Stiles said. They walked out of the room, and into the foyer. Derek stepped back into his muddy boots, and laced them up. Derek opened the front door. With his hand on the small of Stiles’ back, Derek ushered him through the open door. 


End file.
